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If we still measured unemployment the same way we did back in the Great Depression, it would be reported at 17.1%. This measure includes "discouraged workers" truly reflects just how many Americans are out of work.

But, hey, the recession is over!

"The so-called underemployment rate, which counts both discouraged people without jobs and those working part time who want a full-time position, jumped to 17.1% from 16.7% in August. That means more than one in six adults are without the job they want or need."

B-5...when you consider that both the federal gov't and Wall Street don't want Americans to know just how bad our economy is...it still looks pretty dismal to us.

Maybe because it is....

I'm in agreement with those who claim we're actually in a depression. But even if that's true, it won't be declared until long after our economy gets back on track. Maybe by 2020, it will be published. I don't think we'll see a strong economy for another 5 years....and if that happens, it will be sooner than I really think it will happen.

If you read the article honestly you would have noticed it did not say unemployment.. it said underemployment, but disengenuous interpretation of articles is what you have become known for..

Recession has to do with economic growth, not unemployment... keep repeating the half truth until it becomes a fact.

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Darryl, when it comes to economic discussions, you don't know much, do you?

I made the statement, "if we measured unemployment the same way we did back in the great depression, it would be 17.1%". That is a 100% undeniably true statement.

Also, if you look at the government report every month, you'd know there are 6 different definitions of unemployment.

They are:

U1: This is the proportion of the civilian labor force that has been unemployed for 15 weeks or longer. This unemployment rate measures workers who are chronically unemployed. During business-cycle expansions, this rate captures structural unemployment. However, during lengthy business-cycle contractions, this rate is also likely to include a significant amount of cyclical unemployment. U1 tends to be relatively small, in the range of 1-2 percent.

* U2: This is the proportion of the civilian labor force that is classified as job losers (workers who have been involuntarily fired or laid off from their jobs) and people who have completed temporary jobs. During business-cycle expansions, this rate is likely to capture some degree of frictional unemployment. However, during business-cycle contractions, this rate is most likely to consist of cyclical unemployment. U2 is larger than U1, but still remains substantially less than the official unemployment rate (U3).

* U3: This is the official unemployment rate, which is the proportion of the civilian labor force that is unemployed but actively seeking employment.

* U4: This is the official unemployment rate that is adjusted for discouraged workers. In other words, discouraged workers are treated just like other workers who are officially classified as unemployed, being included in both the ranks of the unemployed and the labor force. It is technically specified as the proportion of the civilian labor force (plus discouraged workers) that is either unemployed but actively seeking employment or discouraged workers. The addition of discouraged workers generally adds a few tenths of a percentage point to the official unemployment rate.

* U5: This augments U4 by including marginally-attached workers to the unemployment rate calculation. Marginally attached workers are potential workers who have given up seeking employment for various reasons. One of these reasons is that the workers believe such effort would be futile, which places them in the discouraged worker category. Those who have other reasons for not seeking employment are placed in the broader marginally-attached workers category. The addition of marginally-attached workers adds a few more tenths of a percentage point to the official unemployment rate.

* U6: This augments U5 by including part-time workers to the unemployment rate calculation. The addition of part-time workers adds a full 2-3 percentage points to the official unemployment rate. This measure of unemployment is perhaps the most comprehensive measure of labor resource unemployment available.

The gov't uses the U-3 definition even though the REAL unemployment rate is the U-6 definition. But they are all ACCEPTABLE definitions of unemployment. I don't "slant" the data, the government does.

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The following statement provides an honest view of today's unemployment report.

"The private sector hiring increase of 64,0000 is very weak for a recovery. It is consistent with a rising unemployment rate. Part-Time workers for economic reasons increased by a whopping 612,000 workers, much higher than an recent numbers and also higher than a year ago. The effect of rising part-time work is the effective unemployment rate shot up .4% to 17.1%"

It is what it is, you can have all the knowledge in the world, but your title is disengenuous and hysterical, very Drudgesque... which is par for the course, you did not qualify the title where it should have occurred....

It is what it is, you can have all the knowledge in the world, but your title is disengenuous and hysterical, very Drudgesque... which is par for the course, you did not qualify the title where it should have occurred....

It is what it is, you can have all the knowledge in the world, but your title is disengenuous and hysterical, very Drudgesque... which is par for the course, you did not qualify the title where it should have occurred....

You can cherry pick the data, but your title sucks..

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All the above is just another way for you to say, "I was wrong and PR was right."

Why does the title suck? Anyone who knows anything about unemployment reports knows the real rate has been above 16% for a long time now. The rate Americans hear about is the "Reported" rate (U3).

If we still measured unemployment the same way we did back in the Great Depression, it would be reported at 17.1%. This measure includes "discouraged workers" truly reflects just how many Americans are out of work.

But, hey, the recession is over!

"The so-called underemployment rate, which counts both discouraged people without jobs and those working part time who want a full-time position, jumped to 17.1% from 16.7% in August. That means more than one in six adults are without the job they want or need."

Finally an informed post from PR on economics. There has long been conversation about how these numbers have been juiced. In the wrong way, of course.

Now, when will we finally piece it together that fewer jobs and increased corporate profits are closely intertwined? Break up the oligopolies and stop creating massive wealth for the very few and you have a better America.